Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Specialist Dietitian provides effective nutritional and dietetic advice to both inpatients and outpatients. They work alongside other health care professionals and agencies to deliver excellent patient care. They will manage their own caseload, providing assessment, monitoring, therapeutic dietary advice and education to a range of patients within their specialist area. They will contribute to the wider objectives of the nutrition and dietetic service and support supervision and development of junior staff and Dietetic students. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical responsibilities:

·         Act as an independent specialist practitioner and be professionally and legally accountable and responsible for all aspects of own work including a clinical caseload.

·         Work independently to undertake nutritional assessments and calculate nutritional requirements of patients with complex conditions using anthropometry and taking into account medical, social and cultural factors.

·         Communicate evidence based nutritional and dietary advice in an understandable form.

·         Use highly developed communication and counselling skills such as reflective listening, open questioning, empathy, explanation and reassurance to communicate dietary intervention to patients and carers.

·         Gain valid consent to treatment and negotiate change with patients by breaking down barriers, using motivational skills, to enable them to achieve dietary targets set.

·         Devise nutritional care plans with patients and carers, considering social, psychological, cognitive, behavioural and cultural needs

·         Monitor and review nutritional care plans against outcome measures

·         Review and adjust care plans to facilitate achievement of patient goals.

·         Undertake designated highly specialist outpatient clinics.

·         Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings.

·         Ensure safe and timely transfer of patients by liaising with appropriate internal and external agencies.

·         Provide dietetic cover to other areas during periods of annual leave/sick leave.

·         Accurately record all assessment and interventions in medical notes in line with Trust policy.

·         Communicate with other agencies about patient care after discharge, by liaising with other Health Professionals about the nutritional care and continued diet therapy within the community

Managerial and administration:

·         Decide daily on priorities for own work area balancing patient related and professional demands.

·         Act as a source of information and advice on current best practice for colleagues and other health care professionals.

·         Lead specialist working parties and meetings.

·         Identified and complete projects and meet deadlines.

·         Record patient activity data.

·         Share the responsibility for maintaining departmental resource files.

·         Regularly assist in the supervision of junior staff. 

Education and training:

·         Contribute to the training of pre-registration dietetic students on clinical placement by:

-       participating in the development and revision of the training programme

-       Sharing responsibility within the department for student supervisory roles

-       acting as a role model, leading clinical supervision within designated specialist area

-       undertaking, tutorials, feedback and assessment

·         Plan, deliver and evaluate formal and informal training to other health care professionals, staff and patients including internal and external study days.

·         Develop educational resources, which are evidence based and acceptable to patients and carers.

Clinical governance:

·         Work within the Health & Care Professions Council’s Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency.

·         Attend trust induction training and mandatory training programmes.

·         Identify personal training needs through participation in regular continuous professional development activities and individual performance review.

·         Further develop skills in clinical area by attending further training, specialist courses and conferences and specialist interest group meetings

·         Maintain a personal portfolio as evidence of competence to practice.

·         Be involved in audit and evaluation of practice using research methodology.

·         Participate in the development of departmental policies, guidelines, standards and protocols.

·         Lead evidence based treatment policies within defined area.